b'How to keep your cool when all eyes are on your schoolWhathappensintheschoolyard,doesntA crisis on the other hand:necessarily stay in the school yard in todaysCan cease or hinder operations age of smart phone recording and instant access tosocialmedia.WhentheworldiswatchingCan include injury, illness or death youreverymove,knowinghowtomanageRequires an immediate response and respond to a crisis can either mitigate or exacerbatethesituationandmakeorbreakRequires presence from the schools leader your schools reputation.Willinvolvemultiplestakeholdersincludingmedia, parents, staff and suppliers.Identifying an unfolding crisis Schools are not averse to crises; in fact, with reporting of Firstly, it is critical to understand the difference between anteacher shortages and four in five children stating that bullying issue and a crisis.is an issue in their school, schools are under the watchful eye of parents, media, government and the students themselves. Its While any matter that is out of the ordinary can feel like a crisis,not uncommon for schools to battle defamation lawsuits or be often such disturbances are an issue that can, with the correctsued for negligence or breach of conduct. management, avoid escalation into a full-blown crisis.Because crises and issues are dealt with in different ways, itsThe communication grapevineimportant that you understand what youre dealing with before jumping into action.Knowinginadvancethevariouschannelsthatcouldbe You know youre facing an issue when: publishing your unfolding issue or crisis helps to inform not onlyastrongchannelmonitoringprogram,butitcanhelp You have adequate time to assess the situationyou expedite a speedy distribution of messages if, and when, Youcanarticulatetheissueandofferorimplementrequired.immediate solutions to reduce the impact Consider all these avenues that parents, media, students and All or the majority of commercial operations continue asother stakeholders could access information about your crisis normalfrom:No one has experienced injury, illness or death SocialMediaInstagram,LinkedIn,Snapchat,Direct Messages and personal feeds, business pages, groups and A middle manager or similar can sign off on the response.stories on FacebookA school crisis can unfold anywhere, anytime. Source: Shutterstock5 4 FACE 2 FACE MAGAZINE'